For Friday, June 19, 2020

1 – Camping, overnight lodging facilities and day-use shelters in Michigan state parks and recreation areas will reopen on Monday, June 22.

State officials say people have been asking a lot of questions, such as … 

Will you need a recreation passport? Answer: Yes. 

Are bathroom buildings and other park amenities open? Yes, at most locations. 

Can camping and overnight reservations be changed? Yes. See MiDNRReservations.com. 

Officials say the Department of Natural Resources has developed new operational and sanitation procedures in response to the coronavirus. 

Some procedures – like checking in visitors, processing transactions and cleaning facilities – will look a little different and may vary by location. 

Visitors are encouraged to pay by debit or credit card to decrease the exchange of money.

More information is available on a COVID-19 response page set up by the DNR. 

…

2 – A Michigan Adopt-a-Forest program tracks sites on public land where trash has been dumped and connects with volunteers to help restore the land. 

An interactive map shows the locations and type of trash that needs to be cleaned up at more than 600 known sites.

Those include sites around Saginaw Bay. 

You can join in a cleanup by visiting CleanForests.org. 

If a site has a large amount of debris or items that require special disposal, volunteers can request the assistance of program managers who will coordinate placement of appropriate trash bins.

…

3 – Crude Move is the name of a webinar series starting next week that looks at crude oil transport in the Great Lakes. 

Michigan Sea Grant is helping put on the series as part of the Great Lakes Sea Grant Crude Oil Transport Network. The first webinar is at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 24, and will discuss crude oil rail shipments and community responses from a Lake Champlain perspective. 

Other webinars are planned for July 22 and a date to be determined in August. 

Michigan Sea Grant says the webinar series is meant to provide the latest research and resources to stakeholders in the region to inform decision-making around the issue. The group says anyone with a vested interest in how crude oil and associated products move throughout the region will want to attend. 

Each webinar will be available in a variety of formats: live on Zoom, live on Michigan Sea Grant’s Facebook page, and archived with captions on the network’s webpage.

– Mr. Great Lakes is heard Friday mornings in Bay City, Michigan, on Delta College Q-90.1 FM NPR (now streaming). Follow @jeffkart on Twitter #MrGreatLakes

-30-